McLaren have been one of the most improved teams in F1 after being quite abysmal at the start of 2023. They would have hoped to take the next step to fight for race wins and podiums consistently this year. Still, McLaren has scope for improvement against the likes of Red Bull and Ferrari, after what we have seen in the first 3 races in 2024. Citing this, team principal Andrea Stella asked for a 12-month deadline to transform their weaknesses into strengths and be competitive again.
“I would say, another 12 months [of] development that we need to go through to actually,” explained Stella as per MotorsportWeek. Following this, he emphasized the weaknesses of their car and spoke about improving these sectors, “I think, [we can] offer a car that is strong in DRS and is strong in the long corners.”
This comes after Norris‘ admission when he said that the MCL38 struggles in slow-speed corners and carries a deficit when the DRS is active. The team must have taken these feedbacks into cognizance and hence, Stella came out asking for the improvement window.
Twelve months is a long time in Formula 1 and teams can make a huge dent in terms of performance, something McLaren has already shown last year. Therefore, they can turn the MCL38 and its successor into a race-winning beast by 2025.
Despite the upgrades coming later this season, the Papaya cars may face troubles in the slow-speed corners throughout the year. Tracks like Monaco, Hungary, and Zandvoort can turn out to be painful for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, if they can’t improve their slow-corner performance before the winter.
When can McLaren start to be competitive?
According to Andrea Stella, McLaren would start upgrading their cars once the European leg of races commences. “I think I said it already, around race six, seven we should have a decent round of upgrades,” revealed the McLaren boss.
With this, the Italian engineer also added that the team would continue to bring in upgrades throughout the season, and would not just stick to the European races. This justifies the time frame that Stella asked for to make their car a race-winning machine.
Now, even Red Bull and Ferrari will upgrade their challengers around the same period. The Austrian team and their Italian counterparts are leading the pack right now and their improvements would leave Zak Brown’s team another step behind.
Therefore, McLaren will aim to eliminate the massive disadvantages step by step and look for a race win. Only then Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri would be able to fight for the championship with Red Bull, and Ferrari by 2025.
